St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-01-20
STEALING DISPATCHES.

Apparent Implication of the West.
ern Union COmpanyss New York
Employees in "a Discreditable At
fair.
NEW YORK, Jan. 19.-The stock market
was so listless Yesterday that a row between
the rival news agencies was a god send.
One OF the news agencies, the long estab-
lished one Of Herman & Co., developed in
connection with the Western Union Tele-
graph company and has always had close
relations with that corporation Nat
urally. when MeSSrs. Dow, Jones & Co.,
started an opposition they patroniZed the
opposition telegraph company. Yesterday
morning, according to Mr. E. D. Jones,
the manager of Dow, Jones & Co.. that
agency sent reporter to Hoboken to look
after the coal strike. About every twenty
minutes or half hour. he sent in dispatch
over the Western Union wires which were
the only ones available for his service. AT
The time each dispatch was received by
Dow, Jones IL Co. at their Office.
s26 Broad street, Herman & Co. were
sending out the same dispatch from their
office. Broad street. After Dow, Jones
q Co. had been anticipated several times in
the distribution OF the news in this way
they put up job. They wrote an exciting
but fictitious dispatch and had it taken over
to the reporter on duty al Hoboken. In due
time the Western Union Telegraph COM
pany delivered it to them from its office. 6
Broad street. BY the time it was received
the messengers from Kiernan's agency were
rushing to their customers with slips bear
ing this startling intelligence:
Special Hoboken! Big riot just begun
Police powerless. Over 500 strikers attacked
near here
In the original dispatch the word next to
the last was written f'men" but the opera
tor read it NEAR" and it appeared that
way both in the dispatch delivered to Dow
Jones u Co. and in the copies distributed
by Herman & Co. Dow, Jones & Co. i'm
mediately sent out circulars informing
customers of the manner in which they had
detected the theft of their news. Herman
" Co. Immediately replied with the follow
ing:
To Subscribers: A statement having been
made that our dispatch relating to the riot at
Hoboken had been stolen from Dow, Jones &
CO. news agency, which pretends to send
news, we hereby state that our authority for
the dispatch in question is the commercial
news department of the Western Union Tele-
graph company, with whom we have contract
relations.
AIIlS duuou lreSu Iuel u TIE IRE, as may
be imagined, when Dow, Jones & Co.
promptly put out the following:
Notice: Herman says he did not steil our
bogus riot dispatch. He says he obtained it
from the commercial news department of the
western Union Telegraph company. We will
try to see what right the Western Union
Telegraph has to sell or give our news to
rivals. If it will sell or give our news it may
sell or give your orders and private dis
patches. Dow, JONES s. Co.
This ended the public correspondence,
and the only effect upon the market was
that Lackawanna was sold down p per
cent. and as quickly recovered. After it
was all over the people that had been
caught began to talk of going for Dow,
Jones u Co. for conspiracy. Mr.. Jones'
answer to this was that if the Western
Union had simply done its duty. and trans
mitted the dispatch simply from the sender
to them no harm could have resulted. Dow,
Jones u Co. have turned the matter, so far
as the Western Union is concerned, over to
their lawyers. The Western Union officials
were reticent pending the investigation.